An Integrator attached to the FLARES vertical-lift system. (Insitu)
Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) manufacturer Insitu intends to introduce a suite of new capabilities over the next five years, Diane Rose, the company's president and CEO, told Janes on 31 May.
“Some of the types of payloads and capabilities … including things like datalinks, satcom [satellite communications] capability for extended range, and persistence, those things are very interesting over the next five years,” said Rose.
The improvements are intended to keep Insitu's main products, the Integrator UAV and its smaller cousin the ScanEagle, relevant in complex electronic environments.
“There are a number of detect, classify, and identify-type automated capabilities that are being incorporated into payloads and software,” Rose said. “And then, of course, very important for both ScanEagle and Integrator is resiliency in GPS-denied-type environments.
“We've got SIGINT [signals intelligence] payloads, EW [electronic warfare] payloads, full motion video turrets for both day and night-time operations, laser designation capability, and then maritime search [is] also a capability, an area where we're seeing a lot of advancement in payloads,” Rose continued.
Rose declined to specify which existing or potential customers are requesting the payload developments. At least 15 ScanEagle systems have been donated to Ukraine, where existing capabilities had to be upgraded to function as intended during the massive jamming that characterises the battlefield there.
“There's a demand signal for more of those systems to support Ukraine, and we are ready [and] willing to provide them,” said Rose. “We did provide some updates to the systems that were provided to [Ukraine] early on in the war, to include some multi-[global navigation satellite services] kits that allow them to have more resilient communications.
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